Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle opens huge lead in campaign money race

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle smiles during a July 23 mayoral debate at Grissom High School sponsored by the South Huntsville Civic Association. He faces Jackie Reed and Loretta Spencer in the Aug. 28 election. (The Huntsville Times/Eric Schultz)

William Wilson of Montgomery was the biggest recent individual contributor to Battle's campaign, giving $2,500 last Wednesday. He is president of Jim Wilson & Associates, the company developing the retail and hotel components of the Redstone Gateway office park.

Battle also received $2,250 from Available Plastics owner Steve Brown.

Meanwhile, four political action committees -- MPAC, Goodwyn Mills and Cawood PAC, Local 900 International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon PAC -- gave Battle a total of $2,250 recently.

Goodwyn Mills and Cawood and Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon are large architectural and engineering firms that have done work for the city in the past.

According to his latest campaign disclosure filed Friday, Battle has $141,298 available to spend between now and election day.

"We're going to be trying to get our message out in as many different ways and mediums as possible," Battle campaign manager Brandon Clark said Monday.

Spencer reported $1,000 contributions from Janice Fowler on July 19 and S.C. Young on July 23. Fowler was Spencer's former executive secretary and previously served on the Von Braun Center board.

After shelling out $6,197 for yard signs, political consulting services and other campaign expenses, Spencer on Friday reported an available balance of $22,764.

Included in that amount is a $200 refund from the South Huntsville Civic Association for 10 tickets that Spencer purchased to a July 23 meet-the-candidates reception at Grissom High School.

Civic association President Jeannee Gannuch said Superintendent Casey Wardynski called two days before the event to tell her someone had complained about the group's plans to charge $20 for the reception and reserved seats to a mayoral debate that same evening.

Wardynski "said their attorney, J.R. Brooks, looked into the complaint and determined that if we were to charge, that would make it a partisan event," Gannuch said Monday. "I still don't quite get that, since this is a non-partisan municipal election."

Gannuch said the superintendent told her he would not let the debate take place at Grissom unless the group refunded all money from advance ticket sales.

The civic association, established as a PAC in May 2009, isn't sold on any of the three mayoral candidates and is unlikely to make an endorsement, said Gannuch.

"There was one time previously when we endorsed a candidate that we felt was the best of the worst, and I really regretted that," she said.

Other groups, including the Committee of 100, Huntsville Education Association and Huntsville-Madison County Builders Association, are expected to announce their endorsements for mayor in the coming days.